Adams Papers
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[Account with Massachusetts as a Delegate to the Continental Congress, August-December 1775.]
[from the Diary of John Adams]

[Account with Massachusetts as a Delegate to the Continental Congress, August-December 1775.] 1

1775 Aug. 28th. £ s d
pd. at Davis’s at Roxbury for Oats 0: 0: 8
pd. at Watertown for Horses Servant &c 1: 14: 2
pd. at Baldwins for Oats 0: 0: 8
pd. at Buckminsters at Framingham 0: 5: 0
pd. at Bowmans at Oxford 0: 2: 4
pd. at Shermans in Grafton at Breakfast 0: 1: 8
Septr. 4. pd. at Hides in Woodstock for board and Lodgings for Selves and Servants and Horse keeping from Saturday to Monday. 1: 13: 0
pd. at Clarks at Pomfret 0: 2: 0
pd. at Carys of Windham 0: 7: 4
pd. at Lebanon Grays 0: 9: 10
pd. at Taynters in Colchester 0: 6: 0
pd. at Smiths of Haddam 0: 4: 0
pd. at Camps in Durham 0: 8: 6
pd. at Beers’s of N. Haven 0: 6: 0
pd. at Bryants of Milford 0: 8: 10
pd. at Stratford Ferry 0: 2: 0
pd. at Stratfield for Oats 0: 0: 6
pd. at Penfields of Fairfield 0: 14: 7
pd. at Betts’s of Norwalk 0: 6: 0
 
pd. at Fitch’s of Stamford 0: 6: 11
pd. at Knaps of Horse Neck 0: 16: 0
pd. at Bulls of White Plains 0: 3: 8
pd. at Jasper   the Ferryman, at Dobbs Ferry for Dinners and Ferryge 0: 4: 0
pd. at Mrs. Watsons at Hackin Sack 0: 8: 10
pd. at Piersons of Newark 0: 2: 10
pd. at Elizabeth Town for Shewing Horse 0: 0: 10
pd. at Grahams Elizabeth Town 0: 18: 4
pd. for Man and Horse to Newark after our Men and to the Horsier 0: 5: 8
pd. at Woodbridge Dawsons 0: 1: 6
pd. at Brunswick, Farmers, and at the Ferry 0: 8: 0
pd. at Jones’s at Ten mile run 0: 0: 10
pd. at Princetown 0: 8: 6
pd. at Trenton 0: 3: 0
pd. at Priestly’s in Bristol 0: 12: 0
pd. at Wilsons’ 0: 2: 8
pd. at Shammony [Neshaminy] Ferry 0: 0: 6

Cr.
Recd. of Mr. S. Adams, for his Share of our Expences on the Road from Woodstock to Philadelphia2 5: 6: 4

1775 Sept. 14. pd. for Paper Wax &c 0: 2: 0
Octr. pd. for Tavern Expences on Committees 0: 6: 0
1775 Octr. 16. pd. for Papers, Pamphlets Wax, mending a Pistoll, a Bridle &c 0: 12: 0
pd. for Tobacco, Plans of Boston Harbour, &c &c 0: 14: 0
1775 Nov. 1. pd. Mr. John Wright his Account for pasturing my Horses, 9 dollars 2: 14: 0
Nov. 13. Cash paid for Sundry Medicines 0: 12: 0
Novr. 15. pd. Mr. McLane for a Leathern Breeches and Waistcoat 2: 16: 0
Novr. 27. pd. Mrs. Lucy Leonard for Mrs. Yard £20 P. Curren[cy] 16: 0: 0
Decr. 8 1775. pd. Mr. Aitkens Acct. 0: 16: 0
pd. Washerwoman 1: 4: 0
 
pd. John Stille’s Acct. 3: 0: 0
pd. Mr. Marshalls Acct 0: 4: 0
pd. James Starrs Acct 0: 8: 10
pd. Mr. Smiths Acct 0: 10: 4
pd. Bass 2: 8: 0
pd. Lucy Leonards Acct 0: 16: 0
Mr. Wm. Barrells Acct. 2: 3: 0
Hiltsheimers Acct. 0: 8: 0
Joseph Fox’s Acct. 0: 10: 0
Wm. Shepards Acct. 10: 14: 0
one Pr. of Gloves 0: 6: 0
Mrs. Yards Acct. 23: 18: 63

Decr. 9. 1775. borrowed of the Hon. Saml. Adams Esqr. for which I gave him my Note of Hand 25: 0: 0

1779 [i.e. 1775]. Decr. 9. pd. at Andersons the red Lyon 0: 3: 4
pd. at Bassinetts at Bristow 0: 8: 2
Decr. 10. pd. at Shammony Ferry and at Trenton Ferry 0: 1: 6
pd. at Williams’s 0: 3: 0
pd. at Hiers Princetown 0: 11: 8
pd. at Farmers 0: 4: 0
pd. at Ferry 0: 1: 6
Decr. 12. pd. at Dawsons at Woodbridge 0: 7: 6
pd. at Grahams Elizabeth Town 0: 3: 0
pd. at Piersons Newark 0: 3: 0
pd. at Hackinsack, Phillipsborough and White Plains including the Ferriage of North River 1: 04: 0
Decr. 13. pd. at Knaps at Horse Neck 0: 6: 0
14. pd. at Betts’s Norwalk 0: 8: 0
pd. for shewing Horses at White Plains and this Place 0: 4: 0
pd. at Fairfield for Horse shewing Dinner &c 0: 7: 0
Decr. 16. pd. at Bryants Milford 0: 8: 6
pd. at Bears’s N. Haven 0: 5: 0
pd. at Robinsons Wallingford and at another Tav. for Oats 0: 6: 0
 
pd. at Colliers in Hartford for Entertainment and Horse shoeing 0: 11: 0
pd. Mr. Nicholas Brown for a Girt and for transporting my wrecked Sulky from Horse Neck to Hartford 90 miles 1: 5: 6
pd. for Oats and Hay at Woodbridges East Hartford 0: 1: 0
pd. at Fellows, Bolton for Dinners Oats and Hay &c 0: 2: 6
pd. at Windham for Horse shewing and Entertainment 0: 7: 0
pd. at 2 Taverns for Oats 0: 1: 4
pd. at Providence for Entertainment 0: 12: 4
pd. at Moreys Norton 0: 2: 8
Decr. 21st. pd. at Coll. Howards Bridgewater 0: 6: 0
pd. Bass’s Accounts’ first 1: 7: 0
 2d. 1: 11: 6
 3d. 11: 5: 0
Hire of one Horse from Aug. to 21. Deer.
Hire of another for the Same Time4

1This is JA’s running record of his expenses for his service in the third session of the Continental Congress. A fair copy, containing rather negligible differences in phrasing, was prepared and submitted by JA to the legislature in order to obtain reimbursement; this is in M-Ar: vol. 210 and is supported by receipted bills for many of the charges listed. The more interesting of these bills (filed in the same volume) are printed below under the dates they were receipted.

2They arrived in Philadelphia on 12 Sept.; Congress, which had been adjourning from day to day for want of a quorum, met for business on 13 Sept. (Ward, Diary, in Burnett, ed., Letters of Members description begins Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, Washington, 1921–1936; 8 vols. description ends , 1:192–193).

3As shown in Mrs. Yard’s receipted bill (printed below under 9 Dec), this amount is in Pennsylvania currency, which JA should have converted to New England lawful money when entering it here. The fair copy of JA’s expense account in M-Ar has the correct amount £19 2s. 9d. inserted by another hand at this point. See the following note.

4The fair copy enters the cost of these last two items as £20 and reckons the total amount expended as £127 7s. 10d. It then subjoins two “credit” items —the £5 6s. 4d. borrowed of Samuel Adams, and “By Cash reed, of the Treasurer,” £130—making a total credit of £135 6s. 4d., so that JA found the “Ballance due to the Colony” to be £7 18s. 6d. (The Treasurer’s warrant is recorded in the Minutes of the Council, 22 Aug., in M-Ar: vol. 86.) This “Ballance” was deducted when JA’s still outstanding account for April-Aug. 1775 (q.v. above) was at length settled, 16– 18 Sept. 1776, together with a further deduction of £4 15s. 9d., owing to an “Error of Mrs. Yard’s Balance Deer. 1775” (see note 3 above), so that he was finally reimbursed in the amount of £121 13s. 9d. (M-Ar: vol. 210, p. 290, 280–280 A; Mass., House Jour. description begins Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715– ], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919– . (For the years for which reprints are not yet available, the original printings are cited, by year and session.) description ends , 1775–1776, 3d sess., p. 175, 196, 281; same description begins Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts [1715– ], Boston, reprinted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1919– . (For the years for which reprints are not yet available, the original printings are cited, by year and session.) description ends , 1776–1777, p. 104, 108).

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